Monday, September 9, 2013

Today I’m
happy to welcome my dear friend Kathy Bosman to my blog. And let me just say,
Dragonfly Moments is a must read! Don’t
forget to enter at the end of the post for a chance to win something awesome. Take
it away Kathy…

In stop
five of my blog tour today, I’m going to talk about a character’s vision or
aim. Thank you, April, for hosting me in your blog.

Every main
character in our book must have a life goal, something that they’re aiming to
achieve or desperately need in their lives. Oftentimes, love either conflicts
with that goal or is the goal but
seems out of reach. Tessa’s goal is to get her art gallery going but deep
inside, there’s something burning – a desire to start a family. She’s even stashed
some paintings away of a mother and child, art that speaks of her all-consuming
need and desire. If she can just have that family with a man and kids, she will
be happy. She’s over thirty and wants to start yesterday and thinks she’s found
the perfect father material in Mark, a steady, kind, but rather distant
boyfriend. She’s just waiting for Mark to give her a marriage proposal.

On the day
Tessa’s old crush, Ryan, visits her at her gallery, Tessa expects to get a
proposal. It’s Valentine’s Day and Mark is taking her out for a fancy meal. The
setting sounds perfect. They’ve been serious for about a year. She’s waited
long enough. So, when she sees Ryan again, once at her gallery and again at the
restaurant, she’s very uncomfortable with the feelings that resurface.

Ryan has
come back into her life at the right time but Tessa thinks it’s the wrong time.
Mark’s date turns out to be a disaster. Ryan stands by Tessa as her
relationship begins to crumble but is his love strong enough for Tessa to give
up her obsession with having a child? Especially when she falls in love with an
orphaned baby …

Oftentimes,
this all-consuming goal of the protagonist is masking some hidden pain or the
real need they have. This is the case with Tessa.

I’m giving
away a $10 Amazon gift card and 5 swag bags (little bags of treats relating to
my book or the setting of my book) so enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below.

Excerpt:

“You’re making a mistake, Ryan. Coming in here and trying to bring
up the past. It’s too late now. I’m committed to Mark and have found a life for
myself. You never wanted me then. You loved Annie.”

“I didn’t love her. I loved you. And you promised forever….”

His voice was resigned, and then he winked at her as if to dispel
the tension. It did no such thing.

The letter at the back of the sketch had promised she would love him
forever, hadn’t it? She had believed she would never love anyone as much as
Ryan and that he showed her what true love was.

“You never loved me.” She dropped her gaze onto her lap. “We were
just good friends.”

Pushing up her chin to pretend that her heart wasn’t zinging with
emotion, she started to walk toward the one wall to adjust a painting. He
grabbed her hand. She tried to pull away, but he firmly pulled her close.

Heat and energy radiated off him and his manly scent encompassed
her. Even his breath was a sweetness she wanted to drink in. She took in the
shape of his face, his mouth which drooped slightly to the left, his skewed jaw
line and the prominent cheek bones. His eyebrows were dark and perfectly
shaped, and he had such long eyelashes. Yanking her burning hand away, she made
sure her back was facing him.

“I was blind to the true treasure. All the time when I was going out
with Annie, I really wanted you, but I couldn’t do that to her—dump her for her
best friend. I’ve loved you for years, Tess. I’ve been trying to find you. No
other woman has measured up, and I’ve had several relationships. And you’ve
become so beautiful.”

She faced him, her mouth partially open, devoid of words. He’d loved
her? Why didn’t he tell her then before it was too late?

His gaze followed her from head to foot, and heat branded her face
while a spark ignited her body.

“But I wasn’t then. You thought I was ugly. You must have because
Annie was so beautiful and you never looked at me.”

“I did. Besides the kohl and black clothes, you were adorable,
especially in your pajamas.”

Tessa wasn’t usually one to blush easily, but fire lapped up her
whole face and neck. “But the way you used to look at Annie. She had the most
stunning legs. Long and muscular.”

Ryan smiled. “You have better legs than Annie.”

She pulled back. For a moment, he had her in a trance. Maybe she
should leave Mark and pursue this. Jump right in. No, of course not. Who was
Ryan now, anyway? She hardly knew him. He could disappear again. Mark cared for
her and he was the perfect match to build a family. That’s all she needed.

Author Bio

Kathy loved reading and writing from early
childhood, but her dream to write books was put aside until her kids were
small, and she had little mental stimulation. The writing became a passion as
well as her love for romance. She hasn’t looked back since writing her first
romance novel in 2007. She homeschools her three children so in between
deciphering algebraic problems for her teenage son (with little success),
conducting science experiments, and tackling piles of laundry and dishes, she
miraculously finds time to write books and read many others for fun.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Looking for an Interracial Multicultural Romance? The Other Side by the wonderful Zee Monodee is now available from Decadent Publishing's Ubuntu line which is geared to African Romance.

Divorce paints a scarlet letter on her back when she returns to the culture-driven society of Mauritius. This same spotlight shines as a beacon of hope for the man who never stopped loving her. Can the second time around be the right one for these former teenage sweethearts?

Indian-origin Lara Reddy left London after her husband dumps her for a more accommodating uterus—at least, that’s what his desertion feels like. Bumping into him and his pregnant new missus doesn’t help matters any, and she thus jumps on a prestigious job offer. The kicker? The job is in Mauritius, the homeland of her parents, and a society she ran away from over a decade earlier.

But once there, Lara has no escape. Not from the gossip, the contempt, the harassing matchmaking...and certainly not from the man she hoped never to meet again. The boy she’d loved and lost—white Mauritian native, Eric Marivaux.

Back when they were teens, Eric left her, and Lara vowed she’d never let herself be hurt again. Today, they are both adults, and facing the same crossroads they’d stood at so many years earlier.

Lara now stands on the other side of Mauritian society. Will this be the impetus she needs to take a chance on Eric and love again?

The Other Side is Book # 1 in
the Island Girls Trilogy.The
Island Girls trilogy follows the 3 Hemant sisters – Lara, Neha, Diya – over the
span of the 2000-2010 decade, chronicling the changing face of the Mauritian
society over that crucial period.

And an excerpt to tempt you:

Eric Marivaux stood in the office of his private practice, staring out of the window at nothing in particular. The Grand Baie summer sun beat down on the pane and licked at his skin, burning him with the rays that passed through the glass, but he paid the physical sensations no heed. All his focus lay on his memories, especially of the encounter he’d had with Lara earlier.

Lara, whom he’d loved and lost so many years ago.

How did meeting her again make him feel? He didn’t have a clue, and this uncertainty rattled him beyond the pale. A part of him didn’t dare browse his feelings for the full effect this meeting with her had had on him. But he couldn’t hide, and the sooner he faced the truth, the easier it should be for him to keep on moving forward. At least, he hoped.

He didn’t want her back. Not in his proximity, not in the same place, not on the same soil. The more distance between them, the better. He’d had to work so hard toward finally accepting such a reality, so why had fate chosen that precise moment to put her back onto his path?

He ran a hand in his hair, letting his fingers work at untangling the knots. He should cut the long locks, but damn if he found the time.

Why now? He’d recently reconciled to the idea none of his relationships would work out, because she was the only woman he’d ever love. Peace with that notion had come hard. If he hoped to settle down someday, he’d do so for convenience and companionship, but never for love. It took one face-to-face meeting with her to send his certitude spinning like a crazy top.

No, she shouldn’t be here. He had no desire to see her and be reminded of what he’d let go. He’d wanted to run when upon recognizing her earlier. Run as fast as his legs could carry him. Run away from the hurt and the anger that inevitably crept into his whole being and consumed him completely whenever he even thought of her.

Yet, he hadn’t been able to resist. One glance at her, and he’d been a goner. Again. So he’d given in, and revelled in those short but sweet moments they’d shared. She’d felt so good in his arms—

He sighed and ran his hand over his face again in a gesture fraught with weariness and frustration. Lara. He’d stumbled aback when he recognized her. She’d changed in the past twelve years, since the last time he’d seen her.

She was a woman and not a skinny seventeen-year-old anymore. The long hair had also tricked him. The straight black locks framed the sides of her face, whereas in the past, she used to draw it into a high ponytail that bounced with her every step. He loved to tug on her long hair, which would annoy her so much, and when she frowned and narrowed her gaze at him, he would swoop in and steal a kiss. After which she would smile. Reluctantly, but she’d smile nevertheless.

Why was she back? He had returned to Mauritius because she wouldn’t be there. Her life was in London. What was she doing here? He prayed she was on vacation.

He closed his eyes and let his head touch the surface of the window. The glass felt hot against his skin. As drained as he felt, he couldn’t bother with a possible burn to his sun-sensitive skin. Meeting her again had shaken him up. More so, because he couldn’t bear to see her and know she belonged to another man now. To that darkly handsome husband of hers, who, he’d been loath to admit, resembled Tom Cruise, Lara’s teenage crush. The guy also had brains, since he was some hotshot actuary or something, working in investment. And Lara had seemed happy with him. He remembered the joyous expression on her face when he’d seen them once on Piccadilly Circus in London.

That day, he’d known for good she was lost to him, stupid fool he was. He’d been an idiot to leave so abruptly for France all those years ago, his relationship with her hanging as unfinished business.

But it had all been a long time ago. A different lifetime, even. He forced his eyes open, and rubbed the nape of his neck as he peeled himself from the window and stepped closer to his desk. No use pondering the past, especially one that had not gone as planned.

Would they have worked out, the two of them? He’d never know. Better this way.

Stories about love, life, relationships... in a melting-pot of culture

Zee is an author who grew up on a fence – on one side there was modernity and the global world, on the other there was culture and traditions. Putting up with the culture for half of her life, one day she decided she'd stand tall on her wall and dip toes every now and then into both sides of her non-conventional upbringing.

From this resolution spanned a world of adaptation and learning to live on said wall. The realization also came that many other young women of the world were on their own fence.

This particular position became her favorite when she decided to pursue her lifelong dream of writing – her heroines all sit 'on a fence', whether cultural or societal, in today's world or in times past, and face dilemmas about life and love.

Hailing from the multicultural island of Mauritius, Zee is a degree holder in Communications Science. She is a head-over-heels wife, in-over-her-head mum to a tween son, best-buddy-stepmum to a teenage lad, an incompetent domestic goddess, eternal dreamer, and an absolute, shameless bookholic. When she isn’t penning more stories and/or managing the Ubuntu line at Decadent Publishing, you can bet you’ll find her with her nose in her tablet, ‘drinking in’ a good book.